


The Candle

by jennifercharter



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 22:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4411082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennifercharter/pseuds/jennifercharter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A candle burns in the Grey Gull. It is a shrine of sorts... or maybe an omen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Candle

In the Grey Gull there is a candle that never goes out. It has burned for years, and when it burns down, it is replaced. There are rumors it is replaced in the dead of night, because not a single person will admit to ever seeing it when it wasn’t burning.

It is a sort of shrine, set in the middle of the bar.

No one sits near it. It is often given a wide berth even during the busiest of days when there is standing room only.

There are all sorts of legends about the candle. 

Maybe it burns for the owner’s one true love, although people argue that considering his many relationships and wives that come and go. He scoffs at the suggestion, but never really answers.

Some say the candle burns for the chief, who often sits and stares at its flame. On some nights, when he’s particularly lonely, and when he thinks no one is watching, he often holds his hand above the flame, and winces at the pain.

There are even suggestions that it burns for the Teague brothers, finally passed on from this world. Or maybe for the others of their generation, another Chief, or their friends. They were a special generation, that held their secrets close, sometimes even took them to their graves.

Perhaps it burns for a woman who saved the town from its troubles once upon a time. There is a plaque on a statue of a lighthouse outside of the police station. 

There is no name on the plaque, but everyone knows who it is for.

Troubles come and go, some people say, a warning and a promise.

The younger generation scoffs at this, the troubles are a bedtime story. 

The older generation lets them scoff, and hopes they always can at the idea of the Troubles.

There is an apartment above the Grey Gull, and the owner often complains about it being empty, but always finds an excuse not to rent it. 

It’s haunted is the excuse he tells one bachelor, and from the haunted look on his face, the young man believes him.

Whispers flow through the Gull as easily as they do through the town when bad things happen. The chief comes in less and less, and when he does he and the owner share a long look and sometimes a few beers as the bar closes around them.

Times passes and a chill settles over the town, not entirely due to the coming winter.

 

The Grey Gull’s door opens with a bang, a warm wind winding through the building, startling everyone.

There is a woman at the door of the Grey Gull and her face is vaguely familiar. She pauses in the doorway, and her eyes are caught on the flame as others stare at her.

She drifts across the room, ignoring everyone’s eyes, bends slightly and cups the flame, blowing it out gently.


End file.
